Destiny: Heart of the reef
by Dragon Emperor0
Summary: In a world where an alien being called the the Traveler has come to the system of Sol, a collapse has occurred. This collapse brought about by the Traveler's ancient enemy the Darkness has plunged the galaxy into chaos. The only safe place is the Last City Of Earth, where Gaurdians, beings resurrected from the dead fight. One such Gaurdian, Vulcan Sol, joins them this is his story.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Eyes up, Guardian.

I never knew you, not in your past life anyway, but I do know how this all began.

One day on the planet Mars in the year 2070 three astronauts had landed there and were now exploring it, the reason was because of some very odd energy reading that was there. Once they got there, they stood aghast, at the source of the signals was a small white spherical planetoid no bigger than earth's moons. This odd object...was terraforming the planet!

The object was later known as the Traveler, a powerful extraterrestrial energy source that not only terraformed all planets and moons in the sol system, but actually shared knowledge of how to greatly improve our technology,our science, medical devices. Soon there were things unimaginable, space ships, colonies on other planets and moons, extremely advanced artificial intelligence, and people were living to 300.

It was an age of miracles, this, was the Golden Age. But this great period of peace could not last, because the traveler had an ancient enemy, the darkness, and it followed it to sol, and humanity was nearly lost in an event known as the Collapse. But there was hope, the traveler made a choice, it sacrificed itself to save humanity, and with its dying breath, created humanity's new hope. The Ghost, conduits Of its power known as the light, who have the power to resurrect a person from the long dead to become humanity's last hope, these men and women...are the Guardians.

I am a Ghost. The companion of the Guardians, and last will of the Traveler, you are a guardian, and this, is your Destiny.

(On old Russia. Earth. 2529)

In the wasteland of an old Russian cosmodrome, a small, floating white drone was floating around scanning the corpses and skeletons that scattered the area just outside its walls, hovering over old rusted cars and pitfalls and a destroyed bridge.

The small drone was no bigger than a soft ball, and it's appearance was strange, eight pyramids all around a sphere, mounted on two parallel lines running along the widest portion of the sphere in a vertical fashion. The space inbetween the front four can be distinguished from the back by its "face", as compared the the empty side on the back. It's "face" wasn't really a face, Just a neon blue horizontal diamond separated in two halves.

The little bot was scanning a couple of the skeletons. "Come on...where are you?" It floated into a car. Scanning the skeletons inside. "Ouch."

Meanwhile there were three strange looking aliens on an old car hood, all three were different sizes and were very ugly, the bigger ones had four arms, but the smallest had two, the lowest of its arms were docked. The biggest of the three looked at the small drone through his rifle scope then let out a loud roar.

With said drone, he finally stopped at a skeleton who was closest to the wall. "Is it possible? There you are!" He said as it's pyramids separated from its spherical body in a orb of blue light before it flashed all over the skeleton.

(A few minutes seconds later.)

The figure who's skeleton had just been completely resurrected, slowly awoke as he breathed life into his lungs again. Opening his eyes he heard someone talking as he tried to stand up.

"Guardian? Guardian! Eyes up Guardian!" The drone told him as he looked at it. "It worked! You're alive! You don't know how long I've been looking for you."

The man was about twenty years old, he had light blue skin, Dark navy hair styled in a pointed fashion, gold eyes, and golden eyeliner. He looked at the floating thing. "What are you? Where am I?" He said.

"Oh I'm a Ghost, actually now I'm your Ghost and well…" it said. "You've been dead a really long time, so you might see things you don't understand."

The man looked down at himself and noticed he was in some sort of white armor, a helmet was next to him, putting it on he shook his head. "I was dead how? I...can't remember anything."

"That's because of the resurrection. I think that necklace is yours though." Ghost said.

He picked up what looked like a locket, a locket with a picture of him in it. "Vulcan Sol...The ninth." He said as he read the name engraved on the back. "That must be my name."

"I like it." His Ghost nodded.

Vulcan looked at the small floating drone. "You need a name too, how about...Sentry?"

"...Sentry, I like it." Sentry nodded. Then a guttural roar was heard in the distance. "We got to move Vulcan. This is Fallen territory, we won't last a minute exposed like this. I have to get you to the city."

Vulcan nodded. "Understood. Lead the way little friend."

"Hold still." Sentry said as he disappeared. "I'm still with you." He said in a com system in the man's helmet. "We need to get inside the walls, it's the safest place."

The male nodded as he quickly sprinted towards a door at the side of the wall. Once inside the two started sneaking in. "What you need is a weapon. We need to find you one before the Fallen find us." Sentry said.

As they walked more, Vulcan saw a rifle up against an old canister. He picked it up. "This should work." He said.

"Quiet! They're right above us." Sentry hissed. Then there was a loud rattle before something yelled in a strange alien language. Vulcan ran in the dark room while Sentry helped illuminate the way, until he gets to some sort of look over area.

"Fallen thrive in the dark. We won't, we need more light. I'll see what I can do." Sentry said as he flew off. Once he was at a power box he started shooting light beams at it. "Another hardened military systems...and a few centuries of entropy working against me."

As soon as he finished the lights came on and several aliens crawled on the walls. "They're coming for us! Move!" Sentry said as he disappeared again.

Vulcan ran and went into a Hallway, then out of nowhere one of the smaller two armed aliens dropped from the ceiling. "It's a Dreg!"

Lining up the sights and started rapid firing his rifle, the Dreg was being shot and by the time he fell dead, it was full of bullet holes. Reloading, he looked at it. "Is this a low born Fallen?"

"Yes. They're the smallest and weakest." Sentry said. Leaving the corpse they ran to another hall and there were a bunch of Fallen, raising his gun, Vulcan started shooting the Dregs and the larger ones Sentry referred to as Vandals. But one Vandal survived a few shots and started running towards him.

It swung its arm at him and hit his helmet hard. Staggering back He then pulled back and drove his fist into the Vandals skull, sending it to the ground as it crushed under his fist, whitish purple fluid spewing everywhere.

As he killed this beast, Vulcan stood up and panted, breathing ragged. "That's the last of them." He said.

"There's more ahead. Keep it up!" Sentry told him as they walked across the cat walk to What looked like a chest. "A loot cache, Let's see what's inside."

Opening up the cache, blue bits and cubes came out of it. "Glimmer, it's currency, can be used to build, fuel, you name it." The Ghost informed him. Then the Awoken male pulled out a shotgun. "Preacher MK. 20." Vulcan nodded. "Nice."

After loading the shotgun he came up on a bunch of lasers. "Trip mines! Don't touch them." His Ghost told him. Crouching down he maneuvered through the trip mines and then four Dregs appeared.

"Eat lead punk." Vulcan said as he aimed and shot three with his shotgun, then slid and got a head shot on the last one as it fell dead. Running to a large area he saw about five Vandals and one Dreg.

"Let's give em hell." He grinned as he charged and slammed his fist into a Vandals skull, sending ether everywhere. Pulling out his auto rifle he then mowed down two others. Then he shoulder bashed the Dreg and crushed it, grabbing its arm, He slung it around and hit the others.

"The Fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought. Let's keep moving, Let's hope somethings out there." Sentry said as they left the area. Then they went into a cavern with two giant fans on either side. Once outside in a more open area, they didn't see any Fallen...yet.

"This used to be an old cosmodrome. There's got to be something we can fly out here." Sentry told him. Then there was a red flare shot into the air and then two ships appeared, one was large, the other was...enormous! "Fallen ships! This close to the surface?! Move!"

Vulcan nodded and started running to the other side of the clearing. Only for Fallen to start appearing in every direction. Pulling out his shotgun and blasted several Dregs as he jumped and shot with his auto rifle while in mid air. Then spinning around and mowing down the remaining two before running towards a building where two floating robots and two Dregs were.

Jumping onto the robot, which was called a Shank, he caused it to crash into the other and blow up, killing one of the Dregs. Then he grabbed the last one by the throat and slowly crushed it, it's head exploding.

As they continued to move they followed Sentry's tracking to a jump ship. "I'm picking up the signal of an old jump ship, that could be our ticket outta here."

As they neared a room, Vulcan saw three Dregs. Reaching into his pocket, he found a grenade. "That's a flashbang grenade, throw it at them." Sentry said. Arming the grenade he hurled it in. As soon as the Dregs saw it they screeched and it blew up, destroying them.

Getting up they continued on, but then two Dregs and a Vandal appeared. Grinning Vulcan threw himself at the first Dreg and slammed his fists into his skull. Then he grabbed the second one and grabbed it's face then threw it at the Vandal, then shot it with his shotgun.

"Anyone ever tell you you're a little crazy?" Sentry asked.

"No." Vulcan replied. The two went into an old hanger and saw a Vandal, three Dregs, and a very large Fallen, it was the biggest, a Capitan. The jump ship was there as well.

"There's the ship, clear them out!" His Ghost told him.

The captain roared as it started shooting at him. Running forward Vulcan blasted the Dregs first, then used his shotgun to kill the Vandal, a shank tried to blast him but he jumped and threw it into another Dreg who was hiding, causing it to explode.

Panting he was about to turn his attention to the captain, when said creature backhanded him into a wall. Coughing in pain, Vulcan slowly got up. Raising his shotgun he fired two shots before it was out of ammo. Then fired the last of his auto rounds. The captain staggered. He pulled out a rocket launcher and fired at him, hitting him and sending him back.

Vulcan coughed and hacked. Clenching his fists he charged at the captain and jumped on him, forcing his weapon away, they both traded blows, punch after punch, until both fell to the ground, the captain got up and punched at Vulcan again.

Then the awoken male, caught his fist, then the other after it. Rising up He rose his head back, and then slammed his skull into the Fallen captains, crushing it. The blow killed him, but unfortunately, it also killed Vulcan.

Sentry sighed. "Hang on." A flash of blue light and he was alive again. "Be careful from now on Okay?"

"Will do partner." The man nodded.

Sentry hovered around the ship, checking it. "Hasn't made a jump in centuries. We're lucky the Fallen haven't completely picked it clean."

"Will it fly?" Vulcan asked.

"I can make it work." The Ghost said as he activated the ship. It broke from its tethers and hovered. "Okay...it's not going to break orbit, but it just may get us to the city. Now, about that transmat—"

Then several Fallen started to pour in, and one was the largest they had ever seen. "Bringing you in!" Sentry activated the transmat and teleported him into the ship. "Don't worry, we'll come back for them when you're ready. But for now, let's get you home."

The ship blasted off away from the cosmodrome as a mysterious person watched them fly off.

(Later in the air space over the Last city.)

As the ship went to the landing doc of a large city, where the traveler was floating over it. As Vulcan was transmated to the ground as the ship went to the hangar. He took off his helmet and breathed in the air. As he looked over the railing at the city, Sentry appeared over his shoulder.

"Welcome to the last safe city, the only place the traveler can still protect. It took centuries to build. Now...we're counting every day it stands." Sentry told him. Then they turned to a large tower where Guardians were everywhere. "And this tower, is where the guardians live."

Vulcan nodded. "It's amazing."

"We need to talk to Commander Zavala, he's the mentor to the new titans in the city." Sentry said as they walked down some stairs into a commons room, where another Guardian, a Hunter was talking to a titan who was in orange and white armor.

Once in the meeting area of the tower, Vulcan walked up to a bald Awoken male who was in some awesome armor. "Commander Zavala?" He asked.

The man turned to him. "Ah, a new Guardian. Looks like the light becomes a little stronger today. What can I do for you, Titan?"

"Uh. My Ghost says that you can help me get some new gear." He said.

"Ah Yes, here you are." Zavala said, handing him a blue set of Titan chest armor. "This is the Titan field issue."

Sentry helped him change. "Thank you."

"You are quite welcome." The man said.

"Alright Vulcan, Let's go get those weapons sold." Sentry told him as they dismantled his old auto rifle and old chest piece, getting glimmer and parts as they went over to a booth run by an exo named Banshee-44, who was a gunsmith.

Banshee had blue metal skin, with yellow highlights, and he had some strange antennas all over his head. "Whatcha need, Titan?"

Vulcan looked at all the guns. "I'll take the Trax Callum I for these parts." He said, giving him the weapon parts and armor pieces, and some glimmer.

"Here ya go." The exo said as he gave the man the scout rifle.

The man grinned as he strapped it to his back. "Perfect."

"Okay, now all we need to do is talk to Amanda Holliday, The Shipwright." Sentry told him.

"Alright." Vulcan nodded as he and his Ghost headed to the tower hangar. "Once there, They saw various ships, including theirs. It was now repaired and looked better than ever.

"She's a beaut ain't she?" A voice asked from behind him.

Vulcan turned around and saw a woman with blonde hair standing in front of him. "Howdy there guardian, name's Holliday, Amanda Holliday. And I just gotta say, you got a nice ship."

"Oh, thank you." The man said.

"Though I will tell you one thing. I wasn't able to find it's warp drive, my guess is that the Fallen took it." She told him.

"Of course." Sentry groaned.

"So what exactly does that mean? We need to go and get a warp drive from the Fallen?" The Awoken male asked. "I highly doubt they'll sell it to us."

Amanda laughed while Sentry just looked at him in a Ghost-like way of exasperation. "Never figured you liked to joke." He said.

Vulcan chuckled. "Yeah me neither. Well, let's go."

(Later at the Cosmodrome)

As they landed Vulcan started walking around the grounds of the cosmodrome. "The Guardianship That was shot down here is just ahead. And it looks like two titans also found it." The Ghost And Guardian saw two titans crouching next to a crashed ship. They were bickering. Both looked to be recently risen like him, given how new their armor was.

The two Titans were brothers. Both well built and dark skinned. The older brother had two years on his little brother. Justus was his name. He had brown eyes, a lean build, and short hair. The younger brother, Tye, was shorter but very stocky and had a head full of dreadlocks.

"I told you, baby brother, it isn't here. You never take care of your weapons. I always have to check up behind you!", a flustered Justus exclaimed.

"Chill, man. It's here somewhere...I'm pretty sure. If it isn't, I'll just buy another one.", retorted Tye.

"Yeah. With my glimmer.", said Justus. Tye simply laughed.

"Let's ask them." Vulcan said, walking up to them. "Excuse me, do you two have a moment?"

"Sure, friend. What do you need? I'm Justus by the way." He gave Vulcan a firm handshake. "This is Tye. My irresponsible baby brother." Tye saluted Vulcan with a firm but playful disposition.

"I'm Vulcan, Vulcan Sol...IX." Vulcan says. "And this is my ghost, Sentry."

"Very pleased to meet you, Vulcan Sol and Sentry.", Justus said.

"The ninth, huh? What's that? A family name?" Tye asked.

Justus replied to his brother, "It means he's the ninth son of his family line named Vulcan. His name goes back nine generations."

Tye said, "Ooooooooh, ok. Gotcha. That's pretty cool."

Justus asked Vulcan, "So what brings you to the cosmodrome, Vulcan?"

"Warp Drive scavenging. The fallen took one from a ship i got after just being resurrected." the Awoken man said, putting his helmet on. "I believe they may be where it is, or may already have it.

"If you'd like some backup, we wouldn't mind going with you.", Justus offered. "If the fallen have stolen your warp drive, it must be important and heavily guarded."

"Yeah!", Tye exclaimed. "I've been itching to kick fallen tail all over the cosmodrome!"

Justus asked his brother, "Now how are you gonna do that with no gun?" He gave him his shotgun. "Please, take care of it, bro. I don't have many of those to lose."

Tye said, "Yeah, yeah. I got it. I'll take care of it." He aimed down the sights. "I'll take care of some fallen with it too." He grinned slightly.

"Then let's go. Sentry, lead the way." Vulcan said as he readied his own weapon.

The small ghost buzzed. "On it." as he sent specs to the other two guardians as they made their way through the abandoned structure.

As they did so, Sentry's specs sent them to a small screen area in a dark hall. "A map of the entire area.." the ghost said as it came out of Vulcan's suit with Justus' and Tye's as well. "What we really need is a warp drive, so we can jump to any planet or moon. Our only hope is where we found our ship. We have to go back."

"What about that huge fallen we saw earlier?" Vulcan asked.

"Huge fallen?", Justus inquired. "Hmm. Tye, didn't you see a large fallen scouting the area the other day?"

"Yeah, man. Thing was as big as a house. I almost challenged it to a fistfight, but my Ghost, Hammer, said he wasn't gonna res me if I lost. Haha."

An orange colored ghost appeared and spoke with a gruff, scratchy voice.

"That's right! That'll teach you to spill orange soda on my shell, buddy boy!", Hammer said angrily.

"At least it blended in!", Tye said happily and he laughed at his Ghost.

Justus shook his head. "Radiance, what information do you have on fallen of that size?", he asked his Ghost.

A purple ghost with spines in its back appeared and spoke with an intellectual and analytical voice.

"Archons. They're pretty much their priests. They don't fight us unless they need to. They usually just talk to machines. They're also one of the most powerful and high ranking fallen, next to a Kell."

"So they worship machines..." Vulcan thought aloud as they walked through the halls to an open clearing. "Okay, now where to go…"

Then suddenly Dregs and Vandals started walking in their area. "Damn it." he snarled.

A dreg turned and saw them, screeching in alarm to its comrades. The vandals snarled and turned, pointing their guns at the three.

"Finally! Some action!", exclaimed Tye. He raised the shotgun his brother gave him and ran forward alternating between punches and shotgun blasts.

Justus raised his auto rifle and calmly picked off enemies towards the back of the room firing in bursts of two and three rounds.

Vulcan pulled out his own gun and mowed down two dregs and then charged two vandals into a wall, knocking loose one of their helmets, which he stuck a flashbang grenade into the mouth of one of the four armed aliens.

"Chew on this you sorry piece of-" Vulcan said as he held them in place as the grenade went off in a blast of arc light.

"Storm Fist!", Tye exclaimed as he knocked the head off of a vandal. He tossed it to Vulcan. "I like your style, bro. Here's a present from yours truly.", he said to him.

"Thanks...though I'm not sure this...Striker class is right for me." Vulcan said as he stored the head in his inventory.

Justus incapacitated a vandal by countering its punch with a punch to its kidney.

"You two are much too violent.", Justus said as he wiped fallen blood from his brother's armor. "Respect your armor. A clean Titan is an honorable Titan."

Tye then proceeded to smear fallen blood all over his armor.

Justus sighed, "Why do I even bother…"

Tye said, "I think it makes me look cool. Plus, the intimidation factor is awesome! Imagine an armored soldier running towards you covered in the blood of your own allies!" He was beaming.

Justus shook his head, but then he glanced at Vulcan and thought to himself.

"Sol….I wonder if…" He spoke to his ghost Radiance softly. "Radiance, isn't there a group of mercenary Titans named the Sunbreakers?"

Radiance replied, "Yes, but they left the city to Mercury following the exile of Osiris, they don't like city guardians that much, if at all."

Justus replied, "Well, with that name and his affinity to fire, I think he may be one. When we return to the City, remind me to speak to Zavala about this."

"Will do.", the ghost replied as the new fireteam ran into a building the map showed the jump ship was previously.

"Scanning for the warp drive. Bad news. It's already in fallen hands.", Sentry said in a hushed tone.

Vulcan quickly opened a loot cache and got a new field guard gauntlet and some glimmer, he equipped the new gauntlet and dismantled the other. "Ah it's good to get new gear." He grinned.

Tye's ghost, Hammer, spoke from his armor. "I'm detecting a squadron of fallen in that room nearby."

Tye said, "I'm detecting that my knuckles are gonna be the new teeth of some fallen soon." As he said that, he cracked his fists.

Justus was silent. Steeling himself.

"I hope your ready for this." Sentry said as a skull icon appeared in their visors. "Darkness zone, no Resurrection here Vulcan, be careful."

With his nerves calmed, Justus offered a plan.

"Surprise is our friend here. We're outnumbered so sticking together during the battle will be our best bet.", he said quietly.

"I concur.", Radiance said.

But Tye said,"I got a plan too. Aim at fallen and pull the trigger."

"Yeah!", Hammer exclaimed.

"Mine is a compromise.", Vulcan said as he pulled out his rifle, aiming at a shank that hovered near a doorway, he shot it, causing it to crash into two dregs, instantly killing them, and injuring a vandal with an explosion.

The remaining fallen shrieked as they start shooting all over the place. "Simply send a shot that they can't see and plunge them into chaos.", the Awoken smirked under his helmet.

Justus raised his eyebrows under his helmet and said, "Not bad, Vulcan."

He took cover behind a nearby rock, finished off the injured vandal, and began engaging fallen with his rifle at mid and long ranges.

Tye let out a battle cry, and with his brother providing covering fire, ran in and engaged fallen at close range with his shotgun.

"Left! Right! Behind!", Hammer would exclaim as Tye battled.

"The warp drive. It's in the walls!" sentry said as a giant fallen came crawling out of a hole in the wall, causing a shock wave as he landed. He was well over 10 feet tall, was wearing gold and red armor, and was carrying a large cannon, his head was also shaped like an axe.

"Holy crap!" Tye yelled.

"That's the Devil Archon Priest Riksis! What's he doing here?!" hammer yelled.

Justus activated his force barrier and shot at the Archon. "Over here!", he exclaimed. He drew the aggro of the Archon "Tye, Vulcan, hit it from behind!"

Tye snapped out of his amazement and ran behind the Priest. He gave it two shots with his shotgun and started to fistfight with all four of its arms. He exchanged blows with the giant Fallen. Rights, lefts, hooks, and uppercuts. He gave the Archon a punch to the gut. Although greatly pained, Riksis roared and stomped the ground causing a shockwave which sent Tye back flying.

Justus threw his sticky grenade on Riksis, followed by a burst of automatic fire. The grenade exploded, stunning Riksis. "Go ahead, Vulcan! He's stunned!"

The titan nodded as he clenched his fist, as arc light coursed through him. "YAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" he yelled as he jumped into the air and slammed his arms into Riksis' skull. The energy was sent everywhere, killing every fallen in the area...except the Archon.

"Ize isezeal...zabu, RAAAGGHHH!" it spoke in a strange language.

Justus helped Tye to his feet, nodded to him, and said, "Now's your chance, baby brother. Take him down!"

Tye said to Vulcan, "My Fist of Havoc is ready, Vulcan! Care to give me an alley oop?"

Vulcan kneeled. "All yours.", he said.

The stocky Tye jumped off of Vulcan's broad shoulders and leapt toward the Archon priest fists crackling. He smashed directly into the Priest's skull and fell on top of him with a great thud. Justus pulled his brother off the body of the dead Archon and retrieved the warp drive.

"I believe this belongs to you, Vulcan.", he said giving the warp drive to him.

"You guys just killed an Archon…", Sentry said. "And we got a warp drive. Man the Speaker is not gonna believe this."

Getting the warp drive and a couple engrams for a arm guard, the team left.

(later at the Speaker's private study)

As the three titans walked into the large observatory-like room, they saw it had a perfect view of the Traveler. Vulcan, Justus, and Tye took off their helmets in reverence. "Wow, I can't believe I'm actually looking at the fabled Traveler.", Vulcan said.

"It's quite the sight...reminds you of what we're fighting for.", Justus said introspectively.

"The boys down in the city won't believe this one!", Tye said. "What an awesome scene."

Hammer, Radiance, and Sentry were hovering near the Traveler as if they were drawn to it. Then a man in white robes with a ghost of his own came walking to them, he was wearing a white mask.

"There was a time, when we were much more powerful. But that was long ago. Until it wakes and finds its voice, I am the one who will speak for the traveler." the man said as he walked closer. "You three must have no end of questions, Guardians. In its dying breath the Traveler created the ghosts. To seek out those who could wield the light as a weapon. Guardians, to protect us, and do what the traveler no longer can."

"What happened to it?" Vulcan asked.

"I could tell you the stories. How the Traveler was crippled. I could tell you of the power of the Darkness, it's ancient enemy. How it's used in tales to frighten children, lately those tales have stopped, and now..the children are frightened anyway." the Speaker said in a solemn tone. "The Darkness is coming back, we will not survive it this time."

"It's armies surround us." Sentry said.

"The Fallen are just the beginning.", Radiance added.

"What can I do to help?" Vulcan said.

"You mean what can we do, Vulcan. You're not getting rid of us that easily.", Tye said, putting an arm around his new friend's shoulders.

"Tye's right, Vulcan. We've been brought together for a reason. And together, we're gonna save all that we know and love from this darkness.", Justus said confidently.

He gives Vulcan a fist bump. The awoken man returned the gesture. "Thank you, all of you." he said.

Tye smiles and salutes with two fingers, and Justus gives a thumbs up.

The speaker looked at them. "Guardians are fighting on earth and beyond, join them. Your ghosts will guide you, I only hope they chose wisely."

The three ghosts made several beeping noises. "I did, I'm sure of it." Sentry said.

"As am I.", Radiance concurred.

"Dang right.", Hammer also agreed.

"We're in this together now boys. Let's make the most of it.", Sentry told his fellow Ghosts and Guardians.

Vulcan and the other three nod in agreement. "Yes, let's." Vulcan said, holding his fist out to his new comrades. "For the Traveler."

The two joined him in a three way fist bump. "For the Traveler.", they said in unison.

END OF CHAPTER 1


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Enter the Hive. Warmind: Rasputin. Last array pt. 1

A few days after getting the warp drive for his ship, Vulcan Sol and his two Fire teammates Tye and Justus were now having celebratory drink in the tower bar, courtesy of Cayde-6 of the Vanguard. Though the brothers weren't keen on having alcohol, it didn't stop Vulcan for indulging.

"One orange juice for me." Tye said.

"I'll have some water.", Justus said.

"I'll take a brandy." Vulcan added.

"That's pretty strong, Vulcan. You sure you can handle it?", Justus asked.

"I'd best Zavala in a drinking contest!", he said almost defiantly.

"Have it your way then, man. Just don't pass out.", Justus said.

Vulcan then proceeded to chug his drink.

Justus looked around. A man of action he sighed. "The fallen are looting cosmodromes, killing innocents, causing all of sorts of havoc, and we're here in some bar not doing anything about it...some guardians we are."

"Aw, lighten up, big bro.", Tye told him. "If it was up to you, you'd never sleep until every ounce of darkness was crushed beneath your boot, but I know you know the importance of rest and taking time to enjoy the small things in life."

Justus looked at his brother. He was proud of the man his little brother was becoming. He smiled.

"Yeah. You're right, bro.", he said feeling better. "Hmph, first time I've said that", he said chuckling.

His brother beamed. "I have my moments.", Tye said head held high.

Vulcan smiled too. He was happy to have met the two brothers. They all went home for the night.

(Later, in Vulcan's quarters.)

"That brandy had more kick than I remembered. Sentry, lights please.", he said.

"Certainly.", Sentry replied.

As Vulcan fell asleep he began to dream. He saw visions of a flaming hammer, a burning, mechanized planet, a king and a prince, an army of robots, and most of all...a beautiful awoken woman.

As he woke up he noticed he was in a cold sweat. "Wow...what a dream...", he said as he got up and went to Justus and Tye's quarters and knocked on the door. "Um, Justus, I need your help.", he said as he stood there, the vision of the Awoken woman the most vivid in his mind. 'I feel like I know her, but how…?", he thought as the door opened.

"Vulcan?", Justus said wiping his eyes. "I warned you about that brandy, dude. Is everything alright?"

As Vulcan told him about the dreams, Justus started to become concerned.

"Come inside, man. Get out of the cold. I'll rekindle our fire."

Inside, Justus rekindled the brothers' fireplace as Vulcan took a seat on Tye's plush, orange beanbag.

"Hmm...they sound more like visions than just simple dreams.", he speculated. "I've heard of the warlocks talking about how the light lets you see things before they happen, if you have a strong enough connection to traveler. A warlock having dreams of that caliber is normal but a titan? I'm not sure whether to go Ikora Rey or Zavala.", he said.

Tye walked sleepily into the room.

"Hey...Vulcan? What's going on?", he asked.

Justus briefed Tye and thought for a moment.

"Obviously, the flaming hammer and planet are easy enough. The legendary Sunbreakers and Mercury, our hottest planet. But the king and the prince, the army of robots. I can't figure those out. And this woman...Vulcan...do you know her at all?", he asked.

"No….at least I don't think so." He said in reply. "Guardians don't have memories of their past lives, the golden age archives tell me who my family was...but that's it. Everything else is a blank."

Sentry buzzed. "I do think I have an idea who the woman could be. She could be Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken."

"Mara Sov…", Justus said trying to remember exactly who she is.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

The gang looked at each other suspiciously.

"Hammer...who's that?", Tye asked.

Hammer went to his security feed.

"It's...Dead Orbit.", Hammer said.

"Dead Orbit? Oh, what do they want? Let me deal with them…", Justus said.

As Justus went to answer the door, Vulcan asked Tye about Dead Orbit.

"So...who is Dead Orbit?"

"Dead Orbit is one of the three factions in the city.", Tye said. "Each faction has their own philosophy on how we should run the city. Justus hates Dead Orbit. He thinks they're cowards."

"Cowards?", Vulcan asked.

"They want to abandon everything we fight to protect." Tye explained.

"They truly are cowards then…", Vulcan said.

Shortly, Justus returned with a concerned look.

"We've been sent for by Ikora...they've heard that a Dead Orbit fireteam was shot down at the cosmodrome. We've got a mission to take care of." he informed them.

Vulcan got up. "Then let's go help them."

At that moment, in the dead of night, they readied their new gear given to them for a job well done finding the warp drive and made their way to the Hall of Guardians.

The three walked up to Ikora and Vulcan stepped forward, bowing his head.

"Miss Ikora.", he said respectfully.

Ikora Rey is the most highly respected warlock in the Vanguard. The Vanguard is the order of guardians that protect the last city on Earth. Her spies had gained intel about the Dead Orbit fireteam, and she sent for Justus, Tye, and Vulcan to look into it.

"We got your message…", Justus said with a hair of disdain. For he did not like Dead Orbit or warlocks very much.

His brother jabbed him in the side with an elbow, reminding him to be respectful.

"My lady, Ikora.", Tye said as he gave a slight bow.

"Thank you Guardians." she nodded to them. "Justus, I see your disdain for us Warlocks hasn't faded."

The titan looked off as Vulcan walked up to her. "I was wondering if you could also help me understand some rather odd visions I've had recently."

"Hmm. Interesting." Ms. Rey pondered. "A Titan that has shown an aptitude for foresight...very rare indeed. What are these visions you speak of?"

He explained about the Sunbreaker visions and Mercury, then of the Reef and Mara Sov, and then finally of the glowing three eyed alien royalties.

Ikora Rey's normally stoic disposition slowly changed to a look of deep concern. As strongly as he disliked warlocks, even Justus knew that if Ikora's concerned, it must be bad. Tye was just as shaken. Somehow, rehashing the visions almost made them seem worse than before.

"This is most troubling." Ikora said, putting a hand on her forehead. "The alien you saw was a powerful Hive God named Crota, he slayed many Guardians and took the moon from us by force."

"So then...the moon would be our next destination?", Tye asked.

"No. At least not yet...there are more pressing matters to attend to, which is why I've summoned you. The Fallen are mobilizing forces. We believe they're after something. Zavala will be your intelligence on these missions. I must meditate on these visions."

Ikora gestured the three away, and the three went to Zavala. Justus' favorite of the vanguard, the battle hardened Titan was the bulwark of the Vanguard's defense. There'd be no wall or city without "Big Z" as Tye fondly called him.

"Guardians...For it is good to see that you all still stand strong. Are you all ready for your mission?" They all nodded.

"Fallen forces have been spotted in the Jovian and Terrestrial complexes. We need you three to investigate the meaning behind this sudden change. If you find anything report it back to me. You have your orders, Titans. Stand firm.", he said.

"Yes sir!", they all replied in Unison.

They made for their ship Amanda Holliday, the shipwright, recently repaired.

Tye whistled. "She's a beaut now, isn't she?", he commented.

"Yeah.", Vulcan said.

Tye looked about, hands on his head nonchalantly he said, "Soooooooo….who gets to drive?"

All three titans eyes got big and they looked at each other, trying to see who'd make the first move. Justus would take a step towards the ship, but as he did, Tye and Vulcan did the same. So they stood.

Tye yelled out loud, "Hey, look over there! It's Mara Sov!"

This didn't faze Vulcan, but it did cause him to hesitate just enough for Tye to get a head start to the ship.

"Dang...I fell for it…", Vulcan said as he gave chase. "No you don't, Tye! Blast it all!"

Justus relaxed, he figured he'd just enjoy show. Now Tye was fast, but so was Vulcan and he caught up to him and leapt on Tye's back.

"GET OFF ME!", he yelled.

"NEVER!", Vulcan shouted back.

Justus just looked on as Tye carried Vulcan piggyback style all over the deck of the tower. Then he smoothly walked to the ship.

"The key's still in the ignition.", he said shaking his head.

Tye and Vulcan's scuffle was then suddenly interrupted by the sound of the ship's engine turning over.

"So, you guys coming or what?", he asked them both coolly.

Vulcan and Tye both looked at Justus and back each other and they smiled deviously. Justus' eyes got big, a bad feeling came over him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!", he screamed as he plummeted over the balcony.

Tye and Vulcan had thrown him off the ship and over the balcony.

"Man overboard!", Vulcan shouted.

Shortly, Justus was resurrected by his ghost, Radiance. Arms crossed, he said, "That. Wasn't. Funny."

"I think it was, bro. You were like 'waaaaaaaaaah!', he said through laughter as Vulcan laughed too.

"Let's just get on with the mission…", he said, defeated.

Vulcan took the wheel and the three departed for the Cosmodrome.

Once there the mini fireteam landed and readied their weapons. "All right boys, if you see any fallen, shoot em so full of holes they'll look like swiss cheese." Vulcan told them.

"Locked, loaded and ready to go!", Tye said full of vigor.

Justus, still a bit peeved, simply cocked his auto rifle.

"You still mad at us, man? We're sorry, bro…", Tye said sarcastically.

Vulcan shook his while grinning and they all made a transmat to the surface.

"Radiance, what are we looking for?", Justus asked.

"Apparently, the Fallen have been tearing into machines all over the Cosmodrome. The sudden mobilization of their forces is making the Vanguard think that they're after something. The most recent activity was reported near the old Skywatch. So that complex would be our best.", Radiance said.

"Right. Alright, boys. Let's get a move on. We'll gonna have to head through the moth yards.", Justus said.

The three made their way across the lightly defended moth yards, taking out a few Fallen as they went.

"I think I see Skywatch...that building with the satellite dish, right?", Tye asked.

"Yeah, bud. Just over the hill there.", Hammer said to him.

"Entrance is probably guarded. Eyes up.", Justus said.

The three made their way to the complex entrance which was guarded by a Fallen captain and two Vandals. They crouched near some cover.

"Ok, Vulcan. Start the fireworks.", Justus said.

Vulcan grabbed his Flash bang grenade and hurled it at the first Vandal, causing it to stick to it's arm. The creature tried to pry it off, but it blew up before anything could be done, the shock wave killing both Vandals and knocking the first layer of defense of the captain.

"That enough for you?" the Awoken said.

"Plenty.", Justus smirked.

Then he rose up over his cover, closed one eye, and fired one shot. He hit the trigger hand of the weakened Fallen Captain, making him drop his gun.

"All yours, baby bro.", he said to Tye.

Tye cracked his neck and his knuckles then charged at the alien clutching his shotgun and blasted him. Then, using his Storm Fist, he punched the alien right on the chin and sent him flying engulfed in lightning.

"With that done, let's go see what we have to find." Vulcan said as they went down into the cosmodrome. As they reached the information hub that the dead orbit fireteam. Once there they saw three guardians. An Exo male Warlock, a Human Male Hunter, and an Awoken Female Hunter.

The Exo had brown, metal skin with two antenna on either side of his head, red eyes, and a red mouth light. His mouth looked similar to Cayde's. He also had the number 7 on his head. The human was around Justus' height with brown hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. He was carrying a scout rifle. The awoken woman had a purple bowl cut, blue eyes, light lavender skin, and violet lips. She was wearing all purple gear, even the hand cannon she had was purple.

"Hey y'all look. There's some more guardians." Tye whispered.

"Let's introduce ourselves. Maybe they have some more info on what we're looking for and where we're headed." Justus whispered back.

As they walked towards them the human said something to the exo.

"Come on Ultron what's taking so damn long?" he growled.

The exo, Ultron, didn't respond. "Typical Wolf. Always so impatient." said the awoken woman.

"Shut up Maya!" snapped Wolf.

"Looks like they're in the middle of an argument." Tye whispered.

"Anyone other than me up for playing peacekeeper today?", Justus asked the others. Normally, he is usually the one to settle quarrels.

Tye looked away nonchalantly whistling, and Vulcan remained silent, arms folded.

Justus sighed. "Well, here goes nothing." He said.

He walked up to the three calmly and with a friendly disposition.

"Hi, guys. Is everything alright? We overheard y'all's...disagreement..", he said.

The three turned to them, Ultron just shrugged as he ignored them, looking at his ghost. The ghost has a green shell. "Vision, you got what we need?"

The ghost beeped. "All clear."

Wolf however walked up to Justus and shook his hand. "Hey there titan, name's Wolf. yeah we're good, how's it feel to be out of those stuffy city walls?"

Justus returned Wolf's handshake with a firm grip.

"Nice to meet you, Wolf. Old walls can get pretty cramped, yeah. I like it out here. View's nice, and you get a chance to stretch the old legs. Although, you get shot at more often too." , he said.

Maya too walked up to Tye, true to hunter fashion she put a little sway in her hips. "Hey there tall stack. Name's Maya, but i'm also known in the crucible as the violet bullet. What's your name?"

Tye was a bit flustered as the Awoken hunter was quite pretty to him, but his composure quickly came back to him. He struck a pose. Fist on his hip, and a thumb pointing to his face, he spoke proudly.

"I'm Tye! The Orange Beast of the Tower!", he said very proudly.

Justus rolled his eyes under his helmet.

"Boy...no one calls you that.", he said shaking his head.

"One day they will, bro. Guaranteed!", he said with one hand rubbing the back of his head.

Justus smiled. "I'm sure your legend will be wonderfully remembered, bro."

"If we're all done socializing, we need to get moving." Vulcan said as he ran down the hall.

Justus pointed to him as Vulcan ran. "Oh yeah, that's our buddy, Vulcan. He's...a man of action…", he said.

The three nodded. "A little uptight isn't he?" Maya asked.

"He's alright…", Justus said, slightly smirking.

As they tried to follow him, the saw that he was in a room with two dregs, one was distracting him and the other leaped on his back, it's knives digging into his back.

"Vulcan!" Tye called in shock.

Tye used his boost ability and flew to his teammate's aid. He pulled the dreg off of Vulcan threw it against the wall.

Helping his friend up, he said, "You alright, buddy? Hey...we're a team, right? I got your back, you got mine. Be more careful next time, Vulky." He held out his fist for a fist bump.

The Awoken returned the gesture as he pulled out a Hand cannon he got and head shot the last Dreg. "Thanks. Okay Sentry, scan this door."

Sentry did so. "The Fallen sealed it shut...I can get it open." he began to pick the lock. "They didn't want anything getting in...or out for that matter."

"I don't like the sound of that.", Hammer said.

"They won't like the sound of us either.", a determined Tye said.

"Steel yourselves, everyone. A fight is near.", Justus said.

"Let's go hunting." Wolf grinned, twirling his knives.

"I'm Down." Maya nodded, twirling her pistol.

"Hmmm." nodded Ultron.

The door opened and the fireteam treaded carefully inside.

Radiance spoke. "What is this...? Lots of movement up ahead…I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Well that's not unsettling at all." Wolf's ghost, Howl, said in a thick gruff voice similar to Sylvester Stallone.

Then as the makeshift fireteam rounded a corner, they saw several lanky, pale white creatures crawl along the walls. "It's the Hive!" Sentry gasped in horror.

Maya stepped up an twirled her hand cannon, snapping her fingers. "Hit it, Dolly."

A purple and gold ghost with a pink light eye beeped. "Yes ma'am." it said in a country accent similar to Dolly Parton, as 9 to 5 by said country artist started to play.

The creatures let out horrifying shrieks as they charged at her. Maya cocked her hip as she fired three shots from said area as the bullets were released from the pistol's barrel and buried themselves in the monster's heads, causing them to disintegrate.

Another wave went at her as she holstered her gun, grabbed her knife and flinged it at the first monster, then it exploded, causing the rest to burst into flames, then she threw a grenade at the last one as in cowered, the drones inside the projectile destroying it. Twirling to her ghost she pat her head, causing the music to stop.

"Piece of cake." she smirked, dusting herself off.

"Look alive, Miss Maya!" Justus said. "They've sent reinforcements!"

Hive acolytes began to pour into the darkened room. They started taking cover behind pillars and in corners, raining fire at the Guardians.

"Aim for the eyes!" Justus said as he crouched on one knee and started picking apart each acolyte he saw with bursts of fire.

Tye and Wolf both charged the hive infantry, with Tye using his fists and Wolf using his blade.

"I got your back!" Wolf said as they charged. He cleanly cut through two hive acolytes, and took down one that was farther away with a shot from his scout rifle. Tye beat his way through several hive, bodies flying as he cleared a path. He beat his way to the entrance of the room they were in.

"They're coming from here! Something's sending them through!" He exclaimed.

"Ultron! Give us some firepower, buddy!" Wolf exclaimed.

The exo nodded and charged his void power. "In the words of Toland the Shattered, we shall tear reality asunder!" he yelled as he released a purple nova bomb at the hive, destroying them and a wall, revealing their leader, a wizard.

"There's the wizard! We have to kill it!" Sentry said.

"You're up, Vulcan!" Justus said. He raised his rifle and let out a stream of automatic fire at the wizard eliminating its shields.

Vulcan pulled out his newest weapon, a Calcuta sniper rifle, using his jump boost he vaulted over the hive wizard and fired shot after dead on shot of sniper fire as he landed on his butt, the creature's back facing him as it shrieked, clawing at its face. "Sayonara, you ugly son of a-" he said as he pulled the trigger one final time and it hit it's head, causing it to disappear.

"The hive haven't been on earth in centuries." said Sentry in fear.

"This is bad." Vision shuddered.

"Very bad." Dolly nodded.

"Well, we've seemed to have stalled them at least a little. Let's go and tell the Vanguard about this before the hive overrun the entire cosmodrome." Justus said.

"Right." the others nodded. Vulcan stopped his two friends for a second.

"Seriously, boys. If we're going to be a fireteam...you need your own ships, i'd rather not feel like a sardine." he told them.

"Trust me, Vulky. You definitely don't smell like a bouquet of roses yourself, man." Tye said chuckling, striking one of his signature poses

"We're definitely gonna speak to Amanda about our little ship situation, but right now our priority is most certainly the hive. I say we waste no more time."

"So you're saying I smell bad?" Vulcan asked, glaring at Tye.

"I mean, you do kinda got that whole blue skin thing going on. You sure it's not space dirt?", Tye asked.

"Watch it." the man glared, jabbing a finger at him as they left the cosmodrome.

"You two haven't even heard a word I've said…" a frustrated Justus said.

(later in the tower)

As they went to the tower to report to the vanguard, Vulcan walked up to Ikora Rey, who had sent for him. "You sent for me, Ikora?" he asked.

The woman looked from her papers to him. "Yes Mr. Sol, I have. I've finished meditating on your visions, and I may be able to give you more insight."

"And that is?" the man asked.

The woman closed her eyes. "According to my agents, the hidden, there has been a large gathering of Hive on earth for the first time in centuries. And there has also been odd Fallen activity at the cosmodrome, more than usual. As for your vision of the Sun breakers, I sense you have a strong tie to solar light, so I have asked Zavala to let you go to mercury to speak with Ouros, commander of the titans there."

"I see." Vulcan nodded.

"Also those robots you mentioned are known as the vex. There isn't much information on them at present, but once you deal with the fallen and hive, you can deal with them." she told him. "And as for what you saw of Mara Sov, I had Cayde do some digging and turns out, your past family has been friends with the Sov dynasty for decades."

Justus and Tye both come in, looking for Vulcan.

"Figured we'd you find here, Vulkster." Tye said.

"So what did you find out?" Justus asked.

"That apparently, my family is friends with royalty." he explained.

"Well, it looks like this mystery is finally starting to unravel. But we have other pressing matters to attend to." Justus said.

"Yep, straight from Big Z himself. We got a new mission. Remember the Terrestrial Complex, y'all? There's some strange transmissions coming from the Forgotten Shore. Big Z wants us to investigate." Tye said.

"Then it's time to get moving, boys. Let's go see why our Fallen friends are calling for help." Justus said. "By the way...I'm driving this time…"

(At the Cosmodrome)

"Radiance, you couldn't have transmatted us a little closer?" Justus asked

"Sorry, guys. The other transmat zones haven't been set up yet." Radiance said.

"No big deal. A little walk never hurt anyone." Justus said.

"Sentry, where are we headed to?" Vulcan asked.

"Fallen activity has been reported near the Forgotten Shore, but that's miles from here. Guardians set up a vehicle grid here. We sync that, we can summon ground transport from our ship." Sentry told them.

"Oh yeah! And we get to ride sparrows too? I'm beating everyone to the Shore."

"Please, bro…I'm the best sparrow racer in the Tower." Justus playfully teased.

"Well, you're gonna lose today!" Tye said.

"Don't sleep on me either. You're both gonna eat my dust." Vulcan said.

The group of friends started to tredge on to the vehicle hub and tried to avoid as much fallen contact as possible...but once they got there, they found that the small place where it was hidden was crawling with Fallen.

"Looks like the Fallen have found out about the grid. Gonna have to take'em down." Justus said.

"Vulky, this has you written all over it." Tye said. "Do your thing, man."

The Awoken nodded and grabbed his new Hand Cannon, rapid firing six shots at the heads of the majority of the fallen in his range, causing their heads to explode and ether to fly everywhere.

"Nice shot!" Tye cheered.

"Let's move, before they-" Justus said before arc wire rifle rounds started flying by them. "Uh oh."

"Take cover!" Vulcan yelled, diving behind and old truck.

Arc fire streamed past in swivels and straight lines, and the fireteam tried to stay covered. "They aren't letting up!" said Tye.

"Yeah! Man, they're aggressive!" his brother yelled.

"Well maybe this will scatter them." Vulcan growled as he hurled his grenade over the truck. The detonation went off and Dregs and Shanks were sent flying everywhere.

"Good job. Got us out of a sticky situation there." Justus said. "We move for the Shore."

"How far is the Shore, exactly?" Tye asked.

"A few miles. Sparrows will make that nothing though." Justus replied

"Sentry?" Vulcan said.

"Just gimme a sec…" Sentry said as he linked his gaurdian to the vehicle link. "Bypassing technical eticasies and….we're linked!"

"Let's see what these 'sparrows' are." Vulcan said as he summoned some sort of hover bike. "Oooh." he said in surprise, climbing on.

Justus revved the engine.

"Now y'all will see why I'm the best sparrow racer in the Tower." He said confidently.

Tye revved his too pulling up next to his brother.

"We'll see about that! Hammer! Countdown, please?" Tye said.

"Sure. Racers at the ready!" Hammer exclaimed.

Justus looked at Vulcan.

"Trying to get in on this, man?" He said smiling.

"Bring it." the Awoken smirked, revving his vehicle's engine.

"On your marks...get set...GO!" yelled Hammer as the three sparrows blasted off.

Experienced Justus lead first. He was smooth, cornering excellently, but Tye and Vulcan were right there with him. The streams of brightly colored light from the sparrows tails lit up the night as they raced their way to the Forgotten Shore. As they raced Justus started to fall behind while Tye and Vulcan pulled ahead. Vulcan and Tye glared at each other as the biggest threat seemed to have been eliminated. They raced on furiously, with the Shore in their sights. They made to the beach almost at the same time.

"I won!" Tye said.

"You kidding? I won that race clearly!" Vulcan retorted.

"No way! I had you by a dread, bro!" Tye shouted back.

All of sudden they heard a sharp whistle. It was Justus calmly perched on his sparrow.

"No boys. I won." He grinned.

Vulcan just looked off, scoffing.

"One day I'll catch you, bro. You better be ready." Tye said, determination filled his voice.

"Oh, I know you will, bro. I'm betting on it. I'll be ready too." Justus said, fire in his voice.

"Let's go already…" Vulcan growled.

They group stalked forward and they saw beached ships with Fallen crawling everywhere. Shanks were surveying the place.

"We need to take out those Shanks, and those Vandals." Vulcan said, looking at them through the scope of his sniper rifle.

"Sure. Cover us from the sniper vandals, and I'll take the ones closest to us. Tye, the shanks are all yours." Justus said.

"Awesome. Metal punching bags." Tye said slamming his fist into his open palm. "Let's get going!"

"It's on you, Vulk. Fire when ready, man." Justus said.

The blue skinned man lined up a shot and fired two headshots at the Vandal snipers, then sprinted towards the first ship. The brothers made a dash towards the second ship.

Once there Vulcan heard an odd language being spoken and some sort of music. As he snuck up, there was a huge Fallen Captain on guard next to a transmitter.

"Now, how should I deal with you?" the man whispered. Then it looked his way. "Well, looks like it's the direct approach." Running out from his hiding spot, he charged at the alien and tackled it.

The two tousled and fought until Vulcan raised his fists and used storm fist and two hand smashed the captain's head, causing ether to go everywhere and stain his hands in ink black Fallen blood. Panting, he got up and walked over to the transmitter.

"Sentry, scan this." he coughed.

The ghost floated from his armor and scanned the machine. "It's some sort of transmission, not fallen, and it's playing on loop. Old russia...earth...we should try and find the other transmitters."

Justus and Tye were working on the next ship.

"Left! Right! Hook! Uppercut!", Hammer exclaimed as Tye punched out several Fallen shanks.

Then he pulled out his auto rifle and accurately ended the final three.

"That's new for you...Changing things up?", Hammer said.

"Yeah, can't be no one trick pony." Tye said. It's important to me that I become not just a strong fighter, but a versatile one as well.

Hammer smiled, Tye's wisdom was showing.

While Hammer marveled at Tye, Justus was fighting his way to the transmitter.

"On your left, Justus." Radiance said.

Justus fired his shotgun at a vandal. "Got it.", he confirmed.

"Two more, 6:00", Radiance warned.

Twice he fired and two vandals went down.

"Watch out!" Radiance exclaimed.

A captain rushed Justus and before he could fire, the captain grabbed his shotgun. They turned and twisted, grappling for Justus' gun. The captain was brutally strong but Justus held his own, and he used the captain's momentum against him while driving his knee into its gut. He followed it up with a strong head butt. The captain reeled back stunned, but kept his grip on the gun. Then, he clutched at Justus' helmet attempting to remove it. Justus could feel his helmet slipping, oxygen leaving his armor. He had to move fast, and fast he moved. In an instant he reversed the captain's hold, drew his knife, and plunged his blade into his foe's neck. He laid him down, and kneeled to adjust his helmet.

"Phew...That was close..." he sighed. "Radiance, you enjoy the show?"

"Certainly! That counter was executed to perfection!" Radiance said honestly.

"I've got to teach you sarcasm, Radiance." Justus said shaking his head. "Let's get to that transmitter. Tye'll probably be bragging cause they got to it first."

Justus and Radiance made their way to the transmitter. Tye and Hammer were waiting for them.

Tye folded his arms, head held high. Even with a helmet on, you could see his smile. "Beat you, bro."

"Yeah, yeah...What's the transmitter saying, baby bro?" Justus asked.

"The signal isn't fallen, but I can't make out what it's saying." He said.

"That's cause it's in Russian." Hammer said.

"No wonder it makes no sense." Tye said scratching his head. "So...what now?"

"This transmitter correlates with the one Vulcan and Sentry are scanning. We should meet up with them and pool our info."

"Then let's move, gang." Justus said.

All 4 of them regrouped with Vulcan and Sentry's transmitter.

"Okay, Sentry says there's a third transmitter at the sky watch. We should go there." He said.

Once they got on their sparrows and blasted off back to the cosmodrome, they raced towards the Skywatch.

"So will it be the same one we already scanned before we got here?" Tye asked.

"Not sure." Vulcan shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

As they went into the building there were only two Dregs standing guard.

"Looks like we have an easy fight." Vulcan said.

The dregs jumped in fear and shrieked, pulling out their wire pistols and started firing.

"Showtiiiiiiiimmmmmeeee" Tye yelled in a deep, gruff voice, pulling out his automattic rifle.

He precisely put both the drug guards down. Justus and Vulcan didn't have to lift a finger.

"Hey now...someone's been working in the shooting range lately." Justus said, impressed.

Tye was beaming. Vulcan looked off and just holstered his pistol.

END OF CHAPTER 2!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Warmind Rasputin, Last Array. Pt. 2**

In the Russian cosmodrome our heroes had just cleared out an entire floor of the building of the fallen that were scouring the place for some sort of transmission machine. Vulcan holstered his rifle as he went to a machine in the corner of the room, letting his ghost Sentry scan it.

"It's the same transmission...and there's an even stronger reading from a different part of the cosmodrome." Sentry beeped.

"Good work, little buddy." Vulcan told him, patting the drone's head. "Ready guys?"

The two titans nodded and readied their weapons. As they descended they got to a darker spot that was in an old parking spot, and fallen in gold and purple colors were in the area. Two dregs...and the area was a darkness zone.

"This is the Terrestrial complex." Radiance said.

"My sensors are picking a couple of Fallen up ahead. I can't see them though." Tye said.

"We may not see them, but we can hear them. Everybody low and slow." Justus

The buzz of stealth drives could be heard throughout echoing within the complex. The three Titans were quiet, listening to trying to pinpoint the stealthed Fallen.

Tye got an idea. He kicked a rock into a metal drum, causing a noise to ring out through the area. The Dregs started looking around, making their way toward the sound.

Justus saw this and he followed suit. So did Vulcan. The movement of the Titans was covered by all the noise, and the amount of noise was so much that the Dregs had no sense of where it originated. The Titans couldn't them, but the Fallen couldn't hear them.

"Guys! Tune the frequency of your helmet visors. And look for a Fallen outline!" Justus shouted.

Tuning their visor frequencies allowed them to see the outlines of older model stealth drives. Since the Fallen army is so massive, Justus figured that the stealth drives they had were probably dated in order to mass produce them. He was right. Vulcan caught eye of the first Fallen.

Raising his hand cannon he blasted the two Dregs in the head and nailed two Reaver Vandals in the chests, sending them staggering back and destroying their stealth tech.

Tye raised his rifle, and downed a couple more dregs. Justus dealt with the final Reaver with his knife.

"So, we're almost there, huh?" Tye asked, itching to get the what the Fallen were hiding.

"Yep." Justus said. "Almost there. Where to now, Vulcan?"

"Just down here, no fallen activity, but we may have to quickly pass through that hive breeding ground. Sentry says they've been keeping the Fallen rather busy." the Awoken stated.

"Let's finish this then." Justus said.

The three made their way to the room in the complex where signal was strongest. There were Fallen attempting to hack into the machine in the back of the room, they were also supported by a new enemy, a Fallen Servitor. These purple, sphere shaped machines are like gods to the Fallen, and they support the soldiers with ether. A Fallen life source.

"Vulcan, you've got that sniper. Try to get that Servitor to look you right in the eye and take your shot. Once you do, Tye and I will get to work on the ground." Justus said.

Justus and Tye took cover while Vulcan set up his shot.

"You got it." Vulcan grinned, leaning down and pulling out his sniper rifle and lined it up. "Rockabye Servitor in the cosmo-BANG!" the shot ran out as he unleashed the entire cartridge. "And that kills the Servitor."

"Our turn!", Tye said as the brothers jumped from behind their cover, both of them fully auto with their rifles. Thanks to Vulcan dropping the Servitor, the Fallen were very weakened and were no match for the firepower of Justus and Tye. They cleared the whole room finally making their way to the machine.

As all three the guardians let their ghosts do their thing, more Fallen started to pour in. "oh for the traver's sake!" Vulcan groaned, pulling out a rocket launcher he got from an engram that a captain dropped.

More Fallen poured into the room.

"What? Is the whole Cosmodrome paying a visit?" Justus asked sarcastically.

"I hope so! Not enough punching bags!" Tye answered. Justus knowing his brother knew Tye probably meant that. Then he got an idea.

"You know what? I think it's time for a little a Super action." He said.

He jumped to the middle of the room, and he activated his Ward of Dawn. Fallen started to surround him, but as a Defender Titan he could take it.

"You're gonna have to hit a little harder than that, boys." He taunted, which only drew more aggression towards him. "Whenever y'all are ready, guys!" He shouted to Tye and Vulcan.

"A little double Fist of Havoc, Vulcan?" Tye asked him, Fists crackling with electricity.

"Alright." he nodded, charging with Tye as they jumped in the air and descended on the ground, bringing thunder and lightning with them. "Goongala!" Vulcan yelled. The two collided with the ground as two domes of arc light spread out and vaporized all the Fallen in the close range.

The three warriors were fist bumping, high fiving, and celebrating a job well done. Shortly after, the ghosts called them over to relay to them what they found.

"We found something. A warmind, it survived the collapse!" Radiance beeped.

"His name is Rasputin." Hammer added.

"A warmind that actually survived the collapse...that's huge news." Justus said.

"With a warmind on our side, we'll have some serious firepower. The darkness doesn't stand a chance!" Tye said.

"What's a Warmind?" Vulcan asked.

"A warmind is a powerful defense network build by humans long ago in the Golden Age. They span the entire galaxy, and they were built to defend us from harm. Ever since the Collapse though, they were thought to be destroyed, but this one lives. Rasputin! The last Warmind still standing. There could be something left to help us combat the darkness after all." Sentry said.

"The Vanguard needs to hear about this one for sure." Justus said.

"They may not even believe it." Tye said with a laugh.

"Shoot...they're gonna have to." Justus said.

"Let's get going." Vulcan said as they transmitted into their ship.

(At the tower, one flight later.)

At the tower, Justus and Tye were talking to Ikora about their find. Vulcan was trying to ask Commander Zavala about possibly being able to go to Mercury to meet the Sunbreakers.

"You want to do what?" the man asked him rather callously.

"It's quite simple Commander, I wish to try and find the Sunbreaker Titans. If possible I'd like to learn their methods and use them in both benefit for me and possibly the city. That is if it's fine with you, sir." Vulcan explained.

Zavala continued to look at him with what seemed to be his version of a glare. "I know I may be repeating myself, but I don't understand why this would be so important at the present moment? With the Hive's first appearance here in several centuries, we need every Guardian on high alert, not chasing after those mercenaries."

Vulcan crossed his arms over his broad chest and tapped his foot. "Sir, with all do respect, don't you think you're being a little too narrow minded?"

The Awoken commander looked at the rookie in disbelief.

"What?" He said, in total disbelief that Vulcan would back to him like that.

Ikora sensed the tension between the two titans and stepped in. "If I may Zavala." The man looked at her. "This Titan, Vulcan, was it? Has had a vision of the Sunbreakers for a reason. A Titan seeing a vision from the Traveler is one thing, but at the scale from what I've been told? I would think it best to let them go to meet them when they feel that they're ready."

"Wow, Ikora standing up for a Titan newb, that's something I've never seen." Cayde-6 whispered to Tye. "Or at least in front of me."

"Seriously?" Tye asked.

The Exo nodded. "Been seeing lots of young bloods come in and out of here for centuries kid, and Ikora never once stopped Zavala from reprimanding an insubordinate Titan. Or any that danced on top of our table for that matter, the little stinkers."

"Hmmm. Wonder why that is….?" He pondered

Zavala, however, was not moved. "No. I'm sorry but you are not ready, Vulcan. Not yet at least."

The Awoken clenched his fists. "Fine. Come on you two, it's time to find out just what Rasputin was up to." He growled as he walked off.

The two brothers shrugged and followed him as they climbed into his ship.

(In the sky over the cosmodrome.)

"I'm getting reports that a team of Guardians went dark while exploring the old cosmodrome. They were running a mission for Dead Orbit, if we can find their ghosts, maybe we can open that array." Sentry told them.

As they landed, Sentry started scanning for the ghosts. "I found their ghosts, the fallen have them."

"Well, then we'll just have to get them." Vulcan told his ghost. "Come on, Let's move."

"Right." The two nodded.

As they ran to where the first few signals were, the ghosts were with the vandals of a huge fallen gang.

"Tye. You know what to do." Vulcan told the Titan.

Tye readied his shotgun and then nodded to his brother. Justus moved into cover and started firing at the Fallen squadron, picking off who he could. Tye run straight at them. The mix of ranged accuracy from Justus and close range firepower decimated the squad.

"Good job, little bro." Justus said. Tye beamed through his helmet. He turned his attention to Vulcan.

"Hey, Vulcan. You alright after what happened with Zavala?" He asked.

"Yeah. Things got pretty heated back there." Tye said.

"Don't we have a mission to focus on?" The Awoken man said coldly. He pulled the ghosts from the cold dead hands of the vandals and Sentry scanned them.

"They're dead. We have to keep looking." Sentry told him.

Justus frowned a bit. "Yeah, we have a mission to focus, and I'm just as focused as anyone. But I can also be concerned about my brother in arms too."

"That goes double for me. If something is wrong with one of our brothers, then we all solve it together." Tye said.

Vulcan sighed, fiddling with his new field plate type .2 armor and pulled out his locket he had when he was rezzed. "Take a Look at this." He told Justus as he tossed it to him. "What do you see?"

Justus showed his brother too. Both unfamiliar with the woman.

"Who is this woman? Is she your wife?" He asked.

Taking the necklace back he put it on. He spoke solemnly.

"That, my comrades, is the same woman from my vision. I couldn't see it when I was first rezzed because it was corrupted, but thanks to Tyra Kahn and Banshee I was able to get it restored. And the second picture was of me and this woman. Then I had a vision of her. And when we found out she was Mara Sov...I had to find a way to see her. But I didn't know where to start, so trying to go to mercury was the best thing I could think of." Vulcan sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry if my attitude seemed...callus." He said remorsefully.

The two brothers nodded. "Don't worry about it." Tye said.

"It's kind of a slippery slope though, trying to uncover stuff about your past life." Justus told him. "At least that's what commander Zavala says."

"I don't care. Come on, we have to find those ghosts." Vulcan told them, arming himself with a pulse rifle he got from a vandals dropped engram. As they ran Sentry directed them to another gang of mostly vandals and Dregs, and they had the remaining four ghosts. They were fighting an onslaught of Hive.

"So should we let the hive kill them and scavenge from their dead bodies or…?" Tye asked aloud.

"Could be a way to let them do our dirty work." Hammer nodded.

The two other titans looked at Justus for his opinion.

"We've been fighting this entire time, let's have a rest for a moment. We'll pick off any survivors." He said.

Tye was sad. "Awwwww. No fighting…" he said.

Justus only had to look at Tye for him to understand what he was saying.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Fight smarter, not harder." Tye said.

As the thralls tore into the Dregs and the Acolytes shot down the Vandals, the four remaining ghosts tumbling to the ground, which the Hive licked their wet, soggy and smelly chops at.

"There's the Ghosts! Move!" The teams little drones beeped. Having rested long enough they charged forward and when each got to boost speed they activated their melees, the two strikers shoulder bashed the hive into nothing but arc light. And Justus defeated the rest with a flurry of void punches.

As they picked up the ghosts and their own ghosts scanned them.

"Dead." Sentry said.

"Dead." Hammer told Tye.

"Dead." Radiance sighed.

"This one still has the codes!" Sentry chirped. "Let's find the array!"

As they ran through the cosmodrome the three continued to kill fallen and hive in their path. Then they came upon an old satellite. "That must be it." Vulcan said.

The three deployed their ghosts. Hammer spoke up. "It's working! The array, it's opening. Amazing, it's actually activating."

Then, two green and black portals opened as black ships came out. "Hive tomb ships! Cutting through!" Radiance yelled.

Then a guttural growl was heard as thralls starting jumping off the ship, joined by three acolytes and a Wizard. Tye and Vulcan walked up, hurling their pulse grenades at them, the waves of weaker hive being decimated, but the wizard was still alive.

"Damn it! Tye! Get your gun ready! Justus, cast a Ward of Dawn around our ghosts!" Vulcan ordered as he switched to a shotgun he got after dismantling his old one and buying it.

Justus put a Ward of Dawn around the working ghosts, and then ran to meet the enemy. He saw the wizard was already damaged from Tye and Vulcan's grenades, so he stuck the wizard with a magnetic grenade. This caused the female hive to be surrounded by void energy and pulled into a small black hole, imploding.

As soon as it died with a shriek, two more ships came, sending another wave of hive: thralls, Acolytes, a Wizard, and a huge one that was carrying what could only be described as a cleaver.

As the two strikers mowed down the Thralls, Vulcan now using his newest hand Cannon, the largest hive charged at Justus, bringing down its huge blade. Which dug into his shoulder, draining his light, blood leaking from the wound.

The Titan roared in pain as he wailed his good arm to the hive's head causing it to stagger back and drop it's sword. Getting up Justus replaced his arm into place as Radiance sent enough energy for him to heal.

Picking up the sword the human swung it and decapitated the staggered alien, causing it to disintegrate.

As the other two killed the remaining hive, Vulcan rushed over to Justus. "We have to keep fighting. Stay strong." Vulcan told him.

"Nearly done, keep fighting guys." Sentry told them.

Then two more ships came. Then thralls And Acolytes came ravenously howling. But this time it was lead by an ultra, a Hallowed Knight with a Hive boomer in hand, or claw.

"Holy…" Tye gasped.

"Shiiit!" Vulcan yelled as he jumped onto a platform and got out of the way of the boomer's firing range, while the brothers distracted the hive. Pulling out his sniper rifle Vulcan aimed at the side of the Knights head. "Here's to looking at you, asshole." He growled as he shot it three times, dealing critical damage before reloading, but had to take cover as it shot at him.

"I'm pinned down! Pull his attention away from me!" Vulcan told them.

"Hey ugly!" Tye yelled as he fired a few rounds into the Knight's armor. "Over here!"

The Knight turned its attention to the smaller life form in front of him as it howled a guttural roar. Firing its hive boomer at Tye and his hunkered down brother just as Justus' Ward of Dawn timed out, leaving him and the ghosts totally exposed.

As he took cover, Tye hunkered next to his brother. "This was a bad idea."

"You think?!" Justus snapped.

Seeing his partners in trouble, Vulcan grabbed his hand cannon and vaulted over to them, firing at the Knight, causing it to stumble and drop its weapon, giving him an opening, throwing a grenade which made it even weaker, he was now supercharged.

"Tye! Let's do a double fist of havoc!" He called.

The boy nodded as arc light crackled around them, as they jumped they brought their fists down on the Knight as it dissolved into nothing, a hollow roar ringing throughout the area.

As everything went back to normal, the ghosts finished. "Guys, the array is ready." Sentry said.

"You have to see this." Radiance added.

All three titans ran out to where the satellite was, as it fully activated. "Looks Like we'll be able to work better off planet." Justus said.

"All the more reason to keep working." Vulcan added.

"Agreed." Tye nodded.

END OF CHAPTER 3


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Devil's Lair.**

A day or two passed after the three man Titan strike team rebooted the old cosmodrome array and proved themselves against a horde of Hive, now they were reporting Commander Zavala for their next mission.

"A strike mission on the Devil's stronghold?" Tye asked. "Now, I'm always up for a good Fallen beat down but…"

"It's suicide." Vulcan adds in. "A full fireteam of six probably, but a three man team of titans like us? We'd be dead before we entered the first checkpoint."

Zavala spoke solemnly. "This is the reality of this war against the darkness. When do we have numbers? When do we not have our backs against the walls? It is the price you pay for freedom. As long as we attempt to break the chains of that which holds in bondage, the odds will always be against us. You three are Titans. You should know this by now. We must do more with less."

Justus spoke up for the group. "Guys, I'm sure if Commander Zavala thought we couldn't handle it, he wouldn't have asked us in the first place." He then turned to the commander. "We will try our best to get the job done commander, I can promise you that."

"If you send less into more, you end up with even less." Vulcan countered. "Commander Zavala, this mission is no simple patrol mission. You're sending three rooks into the heart of the Cosmodrome operation.

Zavala simply raised an eyebrow. "Three rooks? My best defender, a future Sunbreaker, and my best striker worth an army consider themselves three rookies?

He looked off into the distance, the Traveler looming over the city, a city he spent years to help build and defend, then back to the three titans.

"I selected you three because there is no one else more fit for the job. There's no one with the skills you possess, no one I've trained better, and no one I trust more. You three are the last hope of the city, and I know you can do it." He said.

The three were deeply moved, but they also felt the incredible weight Zavala was putting on them. The four stood in silence, then Vulcan decided to break it.

"If that's what needs to be done to keep our home safe. Then so be it." He said firmly.

Tye also spoke up, clenching his fist.

"For the sake of freedom, we can't let these Devils terrorize the people we love any longer." He told his brother and friend.

Justus put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"For our freedom, for our city, and for our loved ones, we will complete this mission." He said determined.

"Then come on you two, we have a base to raid. And Fallen to kill." Vulcan told them as they left the Vanguard's Hall.

(Over the air of the cosmodrome.)

As Vulcan flew him and his team to the cosmodrome, Sentry relayed Zavala's description of the mission. "This mission is simple, you go in, kill as many of the devils as you can until you reach where they keep their prime Servitor, Sepiks Prime, And destroy it. Then you leave as quickly as possible."

After the message was done, The ship descended down to the cosmodrome below.

(At the cosmodrome)

The three transmatted in the Cosmodrome Rocket Yards. Justus surveyed the area.

"Looks like we're going to have to cut through Fallen and Hive. Or…it looks like they're busy fighting each other...we could wait it out. What are y'all trying to do? He asked.

"While I'd much prefer to smash the living daylights of Fallen and Hive, it might be a good idea to save our energy, and...oh, what am I saying? Let's get them!"

Our heroes jumped from cover and made short work of the quarreling Fallen and Hive.

"Where to next?" Tye asked, pulling his fist out of a fallen shank.

"The Devil's Lair is beyond that colony ship" Radiance answered.

"Heavily guarded too." Sentry added. "However, We'll have to cut through the refinery first."

"And deal with the Hive nest and Fallen troops. I'm picking up a lot of traffic down there." Hammer said.

"Well, let's get on with then. Into the thick of it we go, boys." Justus said.

As they made their way to the refinery, the three saw a massacre unfold. The fallen and the hive were killing each other, Knights using their boomers to blow small Dregs into nearby walls or hacking them with their huge cleavers. And Fallen Captains were blowing Acolytes and Thralls with their scorch cannons or fighting sword wielding Knights with their own cutlasses.

Ether and hive dust flew everywhere as the massacre went on, causing the team to be disgusted.

"The hive...they just kill, for the hell of it." Vulcan said in disgust.

"This is just...wrong." Tye shuddered.

"We have to end this." Justus nodded. "Are you with me, my brothers?"

"You have no idea." Vulcan nodded, grabbing a Scout rifle from his inventory. "Let's kill these sons of bitches."

The three ran in, guns blazing rifle fire going everywhere as they kill hive after hive, grenades exploding in flashes of arc and void light, and melees destroyed Fallen and Hive alike.

As the fight wound down the three leaned up against a wall, breathing ragged.

"How much farther?" Vulcan asked his Ghost.

"Not much, we just need to cross a few more areas." Sentry answered.

As they caught their breath they continued forward, but were met by a Darkness zone where the hive and Fallen were fighting, and in the distance a huge grid of trip mines in the doorway.

"There's three mesh grids, we'll need to get past them, leave them to me." Sentry said.

"I'll help too." Radiance added.

"Three ghosts are faster than two." Hammer nodded.

Vulcan nodded. "Justus, when we get to that panel, put up a ward of dawn immediately."

"You got it." Justus nodded, readying his assault rifle.

The three charged, a flurry of bullets following them as they shot those in their way. Once they got to the Fallen control device, the trio of ghosts went to work, and the defender Titan made a bubble shield of void light around them, and stood outside of it with his teammates.

"Here comes the calvary." Vulcan said as more reinforcements from both enemy teams poured in. "Ready for war, boys?"

"Let's take em down." Tye smirked, aiming.

Justus cocked his gun and yelled, "Open fire!"

There was a loud roar and a shrill shriek split the air as a huge Fallen Captain and a Hive Wizard entered the field, each rallying their troops. Vulcan saw his opening and charged his fist of havoc.

"Yahhh!" He yelled, using his boost to go up farther, and fell to the ground and caused a massive shockwave of arc light that vaporized every low level hive and Fallen in the area, but the Captain and Wizard both survived. Orbs of light were scattered everywhere.

"You guys take the Captain, that wizard is mine." Justus said.

Tye and Vulcan boosted to the four-armed Captain, and let loose with a furious, two Titan combo of storm fists. The Captain was able to go toe to toe with the Titans, making good use of his Fallen anatomy. He blocked, parried, and caught the punches of the two. But Tye and Vulcan pressed their attack, sped up their punches, and hit the Captain with more force. Weakened from Vulcan's Fist of Havoc, the Captain began to tire. He backed up, barely able to keep his guard. Vulcan finally broke through first, he landed a clean body shot followed by a stiff uppercut.

"You got it, Tye!" Vulcan said as the Captain staggered back and fell to one knee. In a blink, Tye landed a Storm Fist right hook to the side of the Captain's face which sent him flying vaporized by electricity.

On the other side of the refinery, Justus was dealing with the wizard. She utilized her flight ability and was maneuvering around the platforms of the refinery. Using her magic, she fired a barrage of energy at Justus. Justus boosted out the way, he also used the platforms, boosting from one to the other, shooting and moving, draining the shield of the wizard.

However, Justus' boost went into recharge and he couldn't boost for several seconds. Grounded, he tossed his sticky grenade, but the wizard corkscrewed in midair, dodged the grenade, and charged a large energy sphere and fired. Justus crossed his arms in front of him and the sphere met him head on. Smoke covered the battlefield, Vulcan and Tye saw and heard the explosion and raced Justus' way. The wizard was waiting for the smoke to clear to see if anything remained. Moments passed and suddenly, a silhouette slowly walked forward. Justus, covered in his Force Barrier, stepped out from the smoke to meet the wizard.

"This ends...now." He said with finality.

Before the wizard could even move, Justus quick drew his assault rifle fired several shots directly hitting the wizard and erasing her shield. The wizard recovered and charged another energy sphere and fired, but this time Justus boosted over the sphere, up to the wizard, and hit it with his void punch, Disintegration Fist. It was a direct hit that sent the wizard crashing down to the ground while the void vaporized her. Justus put both his hands on knees as Tye and Vulcan made it to him.

"Big bro, you ok?", Tye asked helping his brother to a standing position.

He took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Takes more firepower than that to down a defender." He said with a thumbs up.

Vulcan scoffed, crossed his arms, and said, "Not bad."

At that moment Radiance, Sentry, and Hammer flew to the three.

"We got it done, Chief." Hammer said. "Let's get to those Devils."

"The tunnel through the grid will lead us into another part of the Rocket Yard, going towards King's Watch." Radiance said.

"And just like before it's heavily guarded. This was just a drop in the ocean...but there's no more Hive though, if that brings any solace." Sentry said meekly.

"Let's go then, we're ending this." Vulcan said.

The team ran to King's Watch and there was a large battalion of Fallen, but in the middle of this battalion was a massive mechanical Spider tank.

"Oh my Traveler…" Tye gasped.

"Holy shit." Vulcan nodded.

"Man, That's one big tank. We're gonna need a lot of firepower, boys." Justus said.

Tye cocked his rifle. "We got a lot of firepower. Let's level the thing."

Justus and Vulcan both nodded in agreement as the three proceeded to jump into the fray. They landed on about 100 yards from the tank. As they approached fallen attacked them. Shanks, snipers, vandals, and dregs all fire upon them.

"Son of bitch." Vulcan growled, ducking behind a damaged and rusty Volkswagen and started trying to pick off the Shanks while also trying to not get hit by the vandal's wire-rifle fire. "If there's one thing I hate, it's these goddamn snipers!"

"Hey, watch the language!" Justus called back to him.

"Aw bite me!" The awoken male growled, chucking his grenade over the van into the fray.

Justus just shook his head and continued to lay down suppressive fire on the tank. Its armor was almost impenetrable, but after a few seconds of analyzing the tank, he formed a plan.

"Guys! It looks like the legs are its weak point! When you can, focus your fire on its legs!" He yelled.

His brother and their friend all got from behind their cover and started firing. Tye and Vulcan giving the tank a barrage of rocket launcher fire. The tank recoiled from the damaging shots.

"I think it's working!" Justus yelled. "Keep it up!"

Another blast from Vulcan's rocket put the tank down and exposed its core.

"Let's go, it's vulnerable!" Tye yelled, leaping over the hood of the truck he was hiding behind.

"For The Traveler!" Vulcan yelled as he charged forward, firing his auto rifle at random.

While the Fallen were distracted with Tye and Vulcan's assault, Justus primed his launcher, aimed carefully, and fired a direct shot right at the tank's core. The core went up in flames, doing collateral damage to all the fallen around it.

"We did it!" Tye cheered. Justus pumped his fist.

"Yeah...but that's only the beginning…" Vulcan said solemnly. "Into the lair we go…"

As they descended into the lair, their ghosts buzzed in. "The lair of Sepiks Prime is in your grasp, destroy it, and we will cripple the Devils." Zavala told them over the coms. "Do not fail, and most importantly, don't die."

Justus took a deep breath before speaking. "You know, I'm not one for beating around the bush, so I'll just say what's on my mind."

Tye and Vulcan both looked at him, listening intently.

"We have to finish this here, we have to see this through to the end. There's too much at stake for us to fail. This very well may be the last time we shine our light together. So if that's the case, let's make our light count against their darkness."

He put his fist out. Vulcan and Tye joined him. "For the city…" Justus said, then he took off for the giant gates of the Devil's Lair.

Tye was beaming, he was proud of his brother's will to fight. He steeled himself and rushed to join him at his side. Even Vulcan was stirred up in the moment. He looked at his ghost, and then he too sprinted into the lair with his best friends.

"Darkness zone." Sentry said. "It's too thick here, so I can't bring you back."

"We aren't counting on it..." Vulcan said.

Then a rumble was heard as a purple mist surrounded the air and a huge servitor appeared. It was one fourth the size of the Traveler, and all three heros could sense no emotion or light in the machine god, just cold, lonely darkness.

"Disappear, spawn of darkness." Vulcan said. He lined up his pistol right the servitor's eye and fired a single shot, It did nothing. The room was still quiet and still.

"It looks like Sepiks is behind some kind of force field." Tye hypothesized. "Is he dormant?"

"No…" Radiance said. It knows you are all here. "It just isn't attacking for some reason."

"It must be trying to plan something!" Hammer said.

"No...I don't think so...it must be…" Sentry started to say, then Fallen were all over them. "Fallen! It's Sepiks' guards! He's trying to buy time to fully form himself!

"Spread out!" Justus yelled. Tye took the ground level below Sepiks, Justus stayed on the platform they entered on. Vulcan moved up the stairs to a balcony. The three easily dispatched Sepiks' guards, but reinforcements were sent. As they were fighting off reinforcements. A loud sound rang out throughout the lair. Sepiks had finally put himself together. Justus took a glance at what's going on, and then shouted to Vulcan.

"Vulcan! Behind you!" He yelled.

And there he was...Sepiks Prime fully formed staring directly at Vulcan. It was a one on one confrontation between the Machine God and the Chosen One.

The awoken breathed slowly, rising to his full height, he was a mountain of a man, well over seven feet with very robust and defined muscles, he was in every sense of the word, a Titan. And now he was going to prove it.

Vulcan raised his hand cannon, and pulled out a grenade too. Chucking the grenade at Sepiks and then fires at it and blew it up, the bullet entering its glass optics, and the arc light disoriented it at the same time.

"It's stunned! Come on go go go!" Tye yelled, aiming his gun and started firing.

Bullets of all kinds were flying as they opened fire, going absolutely buck wild, Sepiks tried to blink away several times, but every time it was caught in one of the three's crosshairs.

Vulcan grabbed a heavy ammo pick up and loaded his rocket launcher. "Here's to looking at you. You ugly son of a bitch." He growled, firing his rockets right at the servitor's weak spot.

The rocket struck true to its target, as evidenced by Sepiks reeling from the blast. It blinked away to a new position hoping for a moment of respite. Clearly it hadn't realized that the three Guardians weren't going to let that happen.

"Hey Sepiks!" A voice yelled from the rafters above the purple orb. The servitor looked up and saw it was Tye, who was sparkling with Arc light while punching a fist into his other hand, cracking his knuckles. "Peekaboo." He said before boost jumping off the rafters and activating his fist of havoc as he landed square in the center of the machines top.

Sepiks began to spark heavily, unable to take the power behind Tye's attack. After a moment, orange crack began forming on its chassis due to the energy within wanting to escape.

As the young striker tumbled to the ground he looked up at his handy work and his eyes widened under his helmet. "Oh crud! It's gonna blow!" He yelled, running towards the others as the machine started to spark purple lightning and started to spin.

The three Guardians ran for the nearest cover they could find and hoped that the blast didn't kill them. Soon enough, the energy within Sepiks reached its peak and the purple orb exploded violently.

As the three peeked over the cover to see the resulting carnage, Zavala was on the comms again.

"Commander Zavala, it's done, Sepiks Prime is destroyed." Sentry said.

"Very good, with their prime servitor gone, the Devil's ether supply will be crippled beyond repair. Well done. You three return to the tower for a quick debriefing, and perhaps some much deserved down time as well." Zavala replied.

As the feed cut out, the three breathed a sigh of relief. "First An Archon, now a prime servitor? We must be on a roll." Tye grinned.

"I'd say we are. For now at least." Vulcan nodded, looking up at the moon above them. 'You're next moon, wonder just what is going on up there on your surface?' He thought.


	5. Update

**Update**

 **Dear readers, i'm writing this to inform you all that due to some recent events (mainly chronic writers block) this story will under an indefinite hiatus until further notice. however if you wish to still see Vulcan in another story, my co author and i will be writing another story where Vulcan will be a secondary main character. its called** Hurricane Reaper **. so be on the lookout for it. It'll be done by Thermalsnipern7.**

 **thank you - Dragon Emperor0**


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